2005 Idaho Code - 59-1005A — AUTHORSHIP AND DESCRIPTION OF GREAT SEAL OF STATE

                                  TITLE  59
                          PUBLIC OFFICERS IN GENERAL
                                  CHAPTER 10
                           MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
    59-1005A.  AUTHORSHIP AND DESCRIPTION OF GREAT SEAL OF STATE. The
inscription of authorship of the great seal of state shall appear as follows:
1891 EMMA EDWARDS GREEN - PAUL B. EVANS rev. 1957. The new inscription shall
be located in the same place and manner as the previous inscription, using
more space as is necessary. In gratitude for and as a tribute to Emma Edwards
Green for her design of the Idaho state seal is her description of the seal in
her own words:
         "Before designing the seal, I was careful to make a thorough
    study of the resources and future possibilities of the state. I
    invited the advice and counsel of every member of the legislature and
    other citizens qualified to help in creating a seal of state that
    really represented Idaho at that time. Idaho had been admitted into
    the Union on July 3rd, 1890, and on March 14, 1891, adopted my design
    for the great seal of the state of Idaho.
         The question of woman suffrage was being agitated somewhat, and
    as leading men and politicians agreed that Idaho would eventually
    give women the right to vote, and as mining was the chief industry,
    and the mining man the largest financial factor at that time, I made
    the figure of the man the most prominent in the design, while that of
    the woman, signifying justice, as noted by the scales; liberty, as
    noted by the liberty cap on the end of the spear, and equality with
    man as denoted by her positions at his side, also signifies freedom.
    The pick and shovel held by the miner, and the ledge of rock beside
    which he stands, as well as the pieces of ore scattered about his
    feet, all indicate the chief occupation of the state. The stamp mill
    in the distance, which you can see by using a magnifying glass, is
    also typical of the mining interest of Idaho. The shield between the
    man and woman is emblematic of the protection they unite in giving
    the state. The large fir or pine tree in the foreground in the shield
    refers to Idaho's immense timber interests. The husbandman plowing on
    the left side of the shield, together with the sheaf of grain beneath
    the shield, are emblematic of Idaho's agricultural resources, while
    the cornucopias, or horns of plenty, refer to the horticultural.
    Idaho has a game law, which protects the elk and moose. The elk's
    head, therefore, rises above the shield. The state flower, the wild
    Syringa or Mock Orange, grows at the woman's feet, while the ripened
    wheat grows as high as her shoulder. The star signifies a new light
    in the galaxy of states. ... The river depicted in the shield is our
    mighty Snake or Shoshone River, a stream of great majesty.
         In regard to the coloring of the emblems used in the making of
    the great seal of the state of Idaho, my principal desire was to use
    such colors as would typify pure Americanism and the history of the
    state. As Idaho was a virgin state, I robed my goddess in white and
    made the liberty cap on the end of the spear the same color. In
    representing the miner, I gave him the garb of the period suggested
    by such mining authorities as former United States Senator George
    Shoup, of Idaho, former Governor Norman B. Willey of Idaho, former
    Governor James H. Hawley of Idaho, and other mining men and early
    residents of the state who knew intimately the usual garb of the
    miner. Almost unanimously they said, "Do not put the miner in a red
    shirt." "Make the shirt a grayish brown," said Captain J.J. Wells,
    chairman of the seal committee. The "Light of the Mountains" is
    typified by the rosy glow which precedes the sunrise."